Le Destin fabuleux de Désirée Clary (1942) - film review

On the eve of the French Revolution, Napoléon Bonaparte makes the acquaintance of a merchant’s daughter, Désirée Clary, in Marseilles.  They fall in love and agree to get engaged, but on his return to Paris, Napoléon decides to marry instead Joséphine de Beauharnais.  For her part, Désirée also chooses to marry another, Bernadotte, who is destined to become King of Sweden.  In 1815, Napoléon and Désirée are reunited and discover their love for one another is still very much alive...

Le Destin fabuleux de Désirée Clary typefies the kind of lavish historical drama with which Sacha Guitry is perhaps most associated.  Although less inspired than his subsequent historical films, such as Napoléon (1955) and Si Versailles m’était conté (1954), it is a solid piece of cinema, well-written and well-acted, telling a poignant tale of unrequited love.  The film was made at the time of the Nazi Occupation of France and Guitry had some difficulties getting approval for the film from the German censors.  Indeed, it was only through the intervention of the Swedish royal family that Guitry was able to gain the permission he needed to make the film.

© James Travers 2003

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